Well that is it for the Calgary Flames for the 2010-2011 season. Despite the fact the Flames demolished the Oilers 6-1 at the Saddledome in a game which Nikolai Khabibulin kept close for the first half of the game, the Flames couldn’t get any help on the out of town scoreboard with both Chicago and Anaheim winning.

With the Ducks and Hawks wins 95 points will not get it done for the Flames in the ultra tough Western Conference. I’ll give a more in depth evaluation of the Flames season later on, but for now it’s safe to say that the first half of the season up to Christmas when the Flames sat in 14th place proved to be too big of a hole to climb out of.

I have to give this team credit for one thing. They never gave up unlike last year. Once Darryl Sutter left the Flames this team showed it was capable of playing with anyone on any given night. There will be some tough decisions ahead for the Flames starting if with what to do with acting GM Jay Feaster. Whatever the Flames decide to do they need to decide right away so the GM can get to work for there will be a lot of work to do to try and continue fixing the mess that Darryl left in his wake.

On a bright note Miikka Kiprusoff tied Mike Vernon for the all time lead in wins for a Calgary Flames goaltender at 262. Also Greg Nemisz got his first NHL point setting up Curtis Glencross for a goal in the third period. And ho hum Jarome Iginla potted three more goals and a helper to get him to 42 goals on the year and he is now in sixth place in NHL scoring.

I’ll leave with a request to the Calgary Flames players…. If you are healthy then go to the World Championships if asked. Nothing makes me madder than seeing a player who is healthy pass on a chance to represent his country. Team Canada could be making calls to Jarome Iginla, Alex Tanguay, Rene Bourque, Jay Bouwmeester, Robyn Regher, and Mark Giordano, and perhaps Curtis Glencross who is a guy I’d like to see get a chance to play in the event.

For our contingent oh Phoenix Coyotes fans I will be covering their playoff run if indeed they do hang on to a playoff spot!